This week, the world over, we will be reading and studying the Torah portion of Bechukotai, which is drawn from the Book of Leviticus. Our weekly Parashah opens with the words: “If you follow My CHUKIM (statutes) and faithfully observe My MITZVOT...

What is Jewish time? I am not referring to our supposed casual approach to arriving at appointments or even at synagogue services. Rather, how do our spiritual teachers understand the nature of time? Rabbi Gershon Winkler teaches that “time...

This Shabbat, we will read Parashat Emor from the Book of Leviticus. Like many of the other Parshiot in this section of the Chumash, Emor highlights the special responsibilities and obligations placed upon the Kohanim, the Priestly Class of Ancient Israel. One...

“Now Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and offered before God alien fire, which had not been enjoined upon them. And fire issued forth from God and consumed them. Thus, they died at the instance...

Turbulent times demand that we take action. Parashat Tzav follows Purim by one day, both of which “demand action.” In the Megillah, Haman reveals his diabolical plan to exterminate the Jews of Persia, and Mordechai instructs Esther to immediately...

With this week's Torah portion the third book of the Torah, Vayikra ("[God] called [to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting]..."), is read. Vayikra is also called Torat Cohanim in Hebrew, which corresponds to the name most commonly known, "Leviticus."...

The late Rabbi Bernard Lipnick kept a plaque on his desk that read, “No One of us is smarter than All of us.” In this week’s Torah reading we hear about the final stages in the construction of the portable sanctuary known as the Mishkan or the...

Shalom Chaverim! This year, we have something of an anomaly on the Jewish calendar. In most years, the Torah portions of Vayakhel and Pekudei are read in tandem with one another; meaning that we have a double selection chanted in our Synagogues...

Parshat Ki Tissa opens with the admonition, “This is what everyone who is entered in the records shall pay …” (30:13) God’s command was for every male from 20 to 60, rich or poor, to be counted by their half-shekel contribution to the upkeep...

In Tetzaveh, this week’s Torah portion, we learn that the High Priest was to wear a headdress to which a gold frontlet inscribed with “Holy to the Eternal” was attached by a blue cord. One might ask: Why was this gold frontlet attached to the...

The Rebbe of Kotzk was once asked: “Where is God to be found?” He famously answered” God is found wherever we let God  in.” At first the question seems to be about a specific geographic location (like a synagogue, a temple, or another sacred...